Foothill Ranch bank robber arrested in Lake Forest

• December 14, 2024

A man who robbed a Chase Bank in Foothill Ranch in October was arrested Friday by Orange County sheriff’s investigators, according to a news release.

Edward Eugene Redd, 49, of Lake Forest was arrested on suspicion of robbing a Chase Bank and discharging a firearm during the incident. The robbery took place on Oct. 17 at the Chase Bank at 26791 Portola Parkway in Lake Forest where Redd made off with about $31,000, according to Sgt Matt Timmons. Redd shot near a bank teller’s feet but missed, no one was injured.

Redd left a number of unspecified items with his DNA at the scene. which investigators located and collected as evidence. DNA technology and other investigative means were then used to link the items to Redd.

On Friday, Dec. 13, at around 4 a.m., OC sheriff’s Southeast Investigations and the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team members arrested Redd at his Lake Forest residence without incident. He was booked into the Orange County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and robbery.

Redd has not been connected to any other bank robberies at this time, but the investigation remains ongoing.

​ Orange County Register 

LeBron-less Lakers done in by sloppy play in loss to Timberwolves

• December 14, 2024

MINNEAPOLIS — The Lakers entered Friday optimistic about the benefits of a rare four-day break from games ahead of their road matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

But the reality of their 97-87 loss to the Timberwolves also revealed one of the downsides of having a lengthier break: rust.

The Lakers’ effort, especially defensively, was evident for most of Friday night’s game at the Target Center. But when it came to their half-court offense, they struggled to get out of their own way, leading to their eighth loss in the past 11 games.

There were their 11 first-quarter turnovers that directly led to the Timberwolves scoring 16 points, helping Minnesota take a 32-23 lead going into the second.

The Lakers’ turnovers total after the first period was the same amount or more than they finished with in eight of 24 games entering Friday. They turned the ball over on their first possession of the second, giving them 12 giveaways in just over 12 minutes of game clock.

Even when they took better care of the ball, the timing of some of their giveaways slowed the momentum they started to build after getting defensive stops: Anthony Davis mishandled the ball after blocking a shot, directing leading to a Naz Reid 3-pointer that extended Minnesota’s lead to 74-61 after the Lakers (13-11) had scored seven unanswered points.

Austin Reaves sent a pass into the second row of the Timberwolves’ bench early in the fourth quarter, and Rob Dillingham knocked down a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to put Minnesota ahead 80-72.

Minnesota’s Mike Conley missed a 3-pointer and Rui Hachimura grabbed the rebound for the Lakers, but Julius Randle stole the ball and quickly fed Jaden McDaniels for a layup and an 89-82 lead with 2:03 left.

And the Lakers’ turnovers were exacerbated by their poor shot-making: they shot just 38.4% from the field (33 for 86) and 28.6% from behind the arc (10 for 35).

The Lakers didn’t score more than 25 points in any quarter on Friday, making it eight consecutive quarters when they didn’t reach the 25-point threshold in a quarter against the Timberwolves, who routed them on Dec. 2 in Minneapolis.

Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 23 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots, but he also had four turnovers.

Reaves, who returned to the lineup after missing the previous five games because of a bruised left pelvis, finished with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists in 30 minutes. Max Christie was the only other Laker to score in double figures, finishing with 15 points, but he also had four turnovers.

The Lakers finished with a season-high 22 giveaways for 27 Timberwolves’ points.

LeBron James missed his second consecutive game because of left foot soreness and remains away from the team with an excused absence after not being with the team earlier in the week because of personal reasons.

Anthony Edwards had 23 points and six rebounds to lead Minnesota. Randle (21 points, five rebounds), McDaniels (18 points, nine rebounds, five steals and two blocked shots) and Rudy Gobert (12 points, 13 rebounds) also made significant contributions for the Timberwolves (13-11), who won for the fifth time in six games.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

UCLA has options to try and slow Arizona’s Caleb Love

• December 14, 2024

LOS ANGELES — Oftentimes, the starting guards for the UCLA men’s basketball team will find themselves in a healthy discourse. The defensive-minded trio debates which one gets to check the opponents’ best offensive option.

“It comes down to who we’re playing,” senior Kobe Johnson said on Wednesday. “Depends on the sizing, the matchup.”

The topic for discussion between Johnson and his stoic sidekicks, this week, was Caleb Love, the erratic fireball, who leads Arizona in scoring (14.1 points per game) and can torch any defense if he sees his first shot fall. Johnson and junior Dylan Andrews each have experience facing Love over the last few years in Pac-12 battles. But according to Johnson, Louisville transfer Skyy Clark might get the “Love matchup.”

It’s a good problem to have three starters all willing and capable of taking on a challenge such as guarding Love. In reality, when the 24th-ranked Bruins (8-1) take on the Wildcats (4-4) on Saturday afternoon in a neutral-site game at Phoenix’s Footprint Center, each will get the opportunity. And the two who aren’t on Love during a given possession need to stay wary as this Wildcats team is loaded with backcourt scorers.

Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis, who each brought a spark off the bench last season, entered the starting lineup this season and have improved their production. Bradley is averaging 12 ppg, while Lewis is up to 10.3. Arizona also added Campbell transfer Anthony Dell’Orso, who is shooting 50% on 3.8 3-point shot attempts per game.

“They’ve had a changing of the guard,” UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said.

These aren’t the Oumar Ballo, Pelle Larson, grind-it-out Wildcats who traded regular-season Pac-12 titles with the Bruins and edged them for the 2023 Pac-12 Tournament championship. These Wildcats aren’t as dominant on the glass, or as imposing with their pace. That said, according to Cronin, they’re still trying to play with a familiar style. Similar sets, similar tendencies, just different personnel.

And those players are still trying to learn one another while navigating one of the nation’s toughest early-season schedules.

“They’re 4-4, but metrically, they’re in the Top 25,” Cronin said. “So it tells you they’re a Top 25 team.

Viewing them as such is important for the Bruins, who have had five days to come down from the high of celebrating Andrews’ game-winning, bank-shot 3-pointer against No. 12 Oregon on Sunday in Eugene.

What was ultimately a 73-71 victory was almost a disaster for the Bruins as Andrews forced an entry pass to Tyler Bilodeau that was deflected, intercepted and turned into a Jackson Shelstad 3-pointer that put the Ducks ahead by one with 10 seconds left. Then on the ensuing possession, Andrews stumbled and missed Bilodeau, who was sealing a shorter Shelstad, before recovering and saving the possession with the winning shot.

“We struggle throwing the ball to Tyler Bilodeau, right now,” Cronin said after the Oregon game.

On Saturday, the 6-foot-9 Bilodeau, who excels at shooting mid-range jumpers over smaller defenders, will have an advantage against a Wildcats team whose tallest starter is 6-8. It’s a team effort to put him in those positions, though, as the Bruins’ guards need to throw smoother entry passes.

Bilodeau averaged a team high 15.5 ppg over the first six games, but he has had down scoring nights in two of the last three. With the Bruins embarking on a stretch run that includes Arizona, North Carolina, and No. 8 Gonzaga, it’s vital they get Bilodeau going again as those three teams consist of talented guards who won’t turn the ball over as much as previous opponents and will force the Bruins to score in the half court, where Bilodeau flourishes.

No. 24 UCLA (8-1) AT ARIZONA (4-4)

When: Saturday, noon PT

Where: Footprint Center, Phoenix

TV/radio: ESPN2/570 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Austin Reaves rejoins Lakers’ lineup, but LeBron James’ return remains unclear

• December 14, 2024

MINNEAPOLIS — Austin Reaves was back in the Lakers’ lineup for Friday night’s road game against the Minnesota Timberwolves after missing the previous five games because of a bruised left pelvis.

“Feel good,” Reaves said after the team’s Friday morning shootaround. “Been getting treatment about five hours a day for the last week and a half. Feeling really good.”

Reaves suffered the pelvis injury in the Lakers’ Nov. 29 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder after taking a hard fall during the second quarter.

He momentarily went back to the locker room during the final minutes of the second quarter, all of halftime and the start of the third quarter against the Thunder before rejoining the team midway through the third and finished that game before missing the Lakers’ next five.

“I was sore during the game, but I wanted to get out there and compete and try to win that game,” Reaves said. “And unfortunately, we didn’t do that. I felt like it wasn’t beneficial for me or the group to get out there and run around on one leg.”

Before the five-game absence, the fourth-year guard played in 129 consecutive regular-season games from Feb. 7, 2023-Nov. 29, including playing all 82 regular-season games last season.

He also played in 21 playoff games, two Play-In Tournament games and the 2023-24 NBA Cup title game during that stretch.

“I was pissed, to be honest,” Reaves said. “I kind of wanted to keep that streak going. Just want to be available to get on the court every single night with the guys and go and compete.

“But you find the positives in everything and and one of those was to take a week to not just recover the current injury, but just to feel better all in all. That’s what we did and I’m feeling good.”

The Lakers went 2-3 without Reaves, with their offense in particular struggling during his absence.

The team had an offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions) of 103.8 in the five games Reaves missed, the league’s third-worst mark during that stretch. They had an offensive rating of 115.5 in their first 19 games with Reaves.

“He’s one of our best players and he’s able to provide us with some thrust and some pace in the halfcourt,” first-year Lakers coach JJ Redick said of Reaves. “Another playmaker, another ball handler. You need multiple ball handlers on the floor anytime you play the Timberwolves because of their wing defenders and their pressure. And then, spiritually, he’s a competitor. I’m looking forward to having him back in the lineup.”

JAMES UPDATE

Star forward LeBron James missed his second consecutive game on Friday with the Lakers listing him out because of left foot soreness after sitting out of last Sunday’s home win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

James didn’t travel with the team to Minneapolis, with the team giving him an excused absence.

Redick said on Wednesday that James had been away from the team the previous few days because of personal reasons, adding that James was “taking some time.”

When asked ahead of Friday’s game whether he had a sense for when James would rejoin the team, Redick responded “no.”

James’ name has been mentioned in trade rumors this week, with ESPN’s Brian Windhorst saying on Wednesday that the Golden State Warriors could target he four-time league MVP in a potential acquisition. James has a no-trade clause in his contract, meaning he would need to approve any deal before it happens.

The Warriors looked into acquiring James prior to last season’s trade deadline.

James, who turns 40 in 2½ weeks, is averaging 23 points (49.5% shooting overall, 35.9% from 3-point range), 9.1 assists and 8 rebounds in 35 minutes per game (23 games).

If James returns to the court for Sunday’s home game against the Memphis Grizzlies, it will have been eight days between games for him after last playing in the Dec. 6 road loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

​ Orange County Register 

Los Alamitos horse racing consensus picks for Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024

• December 14, 2024

The consensus box of Los Alamitos horse racing picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Eddie Wilson, Mark Ratzky and Michael Superstein. (Kevin Modesti is on vacation). Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Saturday, December 14, 2024.

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​ Orange County Register 

Santa’s knocking streets off his list during annual tour of Tustin

• December 14, 2024

Santa Claus has been patroling Tustin streets with the local police.

In a beloved holiday tradition, the Tustin Police Department’s Santa Sleigh visits the city’s residential streets each year, children awaiting his arrival from the sidewalks. The patrol stops for photos and visits before moving on to the next street.

It will take the Santa Sleigh 15 nights to reach all corners of Tustin. He’ll be out again starting Monday, Dec. 16, and will finish Dec. 20. Find the streets he is still to visit each night on the city calendar at tustinca.org. Bad weather will cancel a visit.

​ Orange County Register 

Drones, planes or UFOs? Americans abuzz over mysterious New Jersey sightings

• December 14, 2024

By MIKE CATALINI and HALLIE GOLDEN

CHATHAM, N.J. — That buzzing coming out of New Jersey? It’s unclear if it’s drones or something else, but for sure the nighttime sightings are producing tons of talk, a raft of conspiracy theories and craned necks looking skyward.

Cropping up on local news and social media sites around Thanksgiving, the saga of the drones reported over New Jersey has reached incredible heights.

This week seems to have begun a new, higher-profile chapter: Lawmakers are demanding (but so far not getting) explanations from federal and state authorities about what’s behind them. Gov. Phil Murphy wrote to President Joe Biden asking for answers. New Jersey’s new senator, Andy Kim, spent Thursday night on a drone hunt in rural northern New Jersey, and posted about it on X.

NEW YORK: Unidentified drones spotted flying at locations across NYC, including LaGuardia Airport

But perhaps the most fantastic development is the dizzying proliferation of conspiracies — none of which has been confirmed or suggested by federal and state officials who say they’re looking into what’s happening. It has become shorthand to refer to the flying machines as drones, but there are questions about whether what people are seeing are unmanned aircraft or something else.

Some theorize the drones came from an Iranian mothership. Others think they are the Secret Service making sure President-elect Donald Trump’s Bedminster property is secure. Others worry about China. The deep state. And on.

In the face of uncertainty, people have done what they do in 2024: Create a social media group.

The Facebook page, New Jersey Mystery Drones — let’s solve it, has nearly 44,000 members, up from 39,000 late Thursday. People are posting their photo and video sightings, and the online commenters take it from there.

One video shows a whitish light flying in a darkened sky, and one commenter concludes it’s otherworldly. “Straight up orbs,” the person says. Others weigh in to say it’s a plane or maybe a satellite. Another group called for hunting the drones literally, shooting them down like turkeys. (Do not shoot at anything in the sky, experts warn.)

Trisha Bushey, 48, of Lebanon Township, New Jersey, lives near Round Valley Reservoir where there have been numerous sightings. She said she first posted photos online last month wondering what the objects were and became convinced they were drones when she saw how they moved and when her son showed her on a flight tracking site that no planes were around. Now she’s glued to the Mystery Drones page, she said.

“I find myself — instead of Christmas shopping or cleaning my house — checking it,” she said.

She doesn’t buy what the governor said, that the drones aren’t a risk to public safety. Murphy told Biden on Friday that residents need answers. The federal Homeland Security Department and FBI also said in a joint statement they have no evidence that the sightings pose “a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”

“How can you say it’s not posing a threat if you don’t know what it is?” she said. “I think that’s why so many people are uneasy.”

Then there’s the notion that people could misunderstand what they’re seeing. William Austin is the president of Warren County Community College, which has a drone technology degree program, and is coincidentally located in one of the sighting hotspots.

Austin says he has looked at videos of purported drones and that airplanes are being misidentified as drones. He cited an optical effect called parallax, which is the apparent shift of an object when viewed from different perspectives. Austin encouraged people to download flight and drone tracker apps so they can better understand what they’re looking at.

Nonetheless, people continue to come up with their own theories.

“It represents the United States of America in 2024,” Austin said. “We’ve lost trust in our institutions, and we need it.”

Federal officials echo Austin’s view that many of the sightings are piloted aircraft such as planes and helicopters being mistaken for drones, according to lawmakers and Murphy.

That’s not really convincing for many, though, who are homing in on the sightings beyond just New Jersey and the East Coast, where others have reported seeing the objects.

For Seph Divine, 34, another member of the drone hunting group who lives in Eugene, Oregon, it feels as if it’s up to citizen sleuths to solve the mystery. He said he tries to be a voice of reason, encouraging people to fact check their information, while also asking probing questions.

“My main goal is I don’t want people to be caught up in the hysteria and I also want people to not just ignore it at the same time,” he said.

“Whether or not it’s foreign military or some secret access program or something otherworldly, whatever it is, all I’m saying is it’s alarming that this is happening so suddenly and so consistently for hours at a time,” he added.

Golden reported form Seattle.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Friday, Dec. 13

• December 14, 2024

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Scores and stats from Orange County games on Friday, Dec. 13

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

The deadline for submitting information is 10:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday.

FRIDAY’S SCORES

GIRLS BASKETBALL

NONLEAGUE

Cerritos 49, University 34

Valencia 48, Oxford Academy 27

GIRLS WATER POLO

VILLA PARK CLASSIC

At Villa Park

Camarillo 8, Villa Park 5

BOYS SOCCER

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

St. Margaret’s 2, Woodbridge 0

NONLEAGUE

Kennedy 3, Whitney 1

Servite 3, El Dorado 0

Santa Fe 3, Oxford Academy 0

Samueli Academy 4, Rancho Alamitos 2

GIRLS SOCCER

NONLEAGUE

Los Amigos 5, Santiago 0

Garden Grove 5, La Quinta 0

​ Orange County Register